Scan barcode
A review by _darbi_
You Could Make This Place Beautiful: A Memoir by Maggie Smith
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
slow-paced
3.25
my first introduction to maggie smith was in reading her viral poem "good bones" a few years back. reading the poem was an intimate reflection on how to raise children in a broken and terrible world — how to hope when everything is on fire.
you could make this place beautiful hosts similar reflections, however, smith's memoir is more of an ode to finding herself as a person and a writer (and subsequently as a mother) after the discovery of her husband's infidelity and the dissolution of this relationship.
through experimental prose and a variety of lenses, smith reflects on her relationship to her previous partner, her work as a writer, her work as a mother, and her loss/discovery of self. metaphor is heavy in this memoir and can sometimes be repetitive. i resonated with her crisis management and found myself enraged at the unjust behaviors of her previous partner. reading smith's descriptions of herself as a mother and the characters of her children were particularly raw and endearing. some of my favorite moments were the "a friend says every book begins with an unanswerable question" responses.
my primary critique? i feel this book could have been a bit shorter and still deliver the same narrative. however, the repetitive nature of the novel could be a reflection of the repetitive and exhaustive nature of this experience.
thank you for sharing your torma, your offering, maggie.
(allusions to joan didion throughout with references to magical thinking!)
you could make this place beautiful hosts similar reflections, however, smith's memoir is more of an ode to finding herself as a person and a writer (and subsequently as a mother) after the discovery of her husband's infidelity and the dissolution of this relationship.
through experimental prose and a variety of lenses, smith reflects on her relationship to her previous partner, her work as a writer, her work as a mother, and her loss/discovery of self. metaphor is heavy in this memoir and can sometimes be repetitive. i resonated with her crisis management and found myself enraged at the unjust behaviors of her previous partner. reading smith's descriptions of herself as a mother and the characters of her children were particularly raw and endearing. some of my favorite moments were the "a friend says every book begins with an unanswerable question" responses.
my primary critique? i feel this book could have been a bit shorter and still deliver the same narrative. however, the repetitive nature of the novel could be a reflection of the repetitive and exhaustive nature of this experience.
thank you for sharing your torma, your offering, maggie.
(allusions to joan didion throughout with references to magical thinking!)